Decoding Shiva: Existence is God

Picking up threads from the previous issue, it is now time now to see how creation chain moved forward on to the earth plane. Moon here, plays from the front as the carrier of cosmic energies, serving as the interface between the cosmic world above and life mechanism on earth plane. Thus, comes into place a life cycle, which runs in succession, as would running water stream of the perennial river Ganges originating from Lord Śiva’s hair locks imply. Travelling from the source to the sea, water extends life all through its run. Remember, but for water there would be no live form-existence. Even science believes that the first live existence emerged in water. Water running down the river stream as also in the sea evaporates, leaving behind all impurities, takes the form of cloud, and again rains back to recharge the water bodies on earth on a regular basis. Similarly, all forms of life run in succession in a cyclic order.

Now coming back to Lord Śiva’s entourage, it exemplifies multitude of existences forming this world. The divine beings are personification of the cosmic forces, vital to creation, sustenance, and recycling of existential order. Human beings armed with intelligence and awareness level, higher than other creatures, the onus lies on them to work towards qualitative existence of the living order. Devilish existences imply ignorant people with relatively lower intelligence level and primarily driven by animalistic instincts. They, therefore, are not expected to be conscious about their collective obligations. It also implies all negative orientation of mind that may prove detrimental to harmonious and peaceful coexistence.

The presence of invisible existences such as ghosts, make out a purposeful reference. These unseen creatures symbolise invisible existences in the intervening period between two successive form-existences, reflecting upon continuum between successive lives. Lord Śiva’s entourage, thus, presents a picture of all seen and unseen existences forming this living world.

Lord Śiva, despite evolutionary barrier of incommunicability amongst the varied creatures forming His entourage, through His selfless force of love, remains in accord with all of them. Overlooking their individualistic vagaries, as His eyes, half open and half closed would signify, He carries them all along. Purposely so, because He knows that all creatures, by themselves, are imperfect, and incapable of meeting existential needs all by themselves. But all put together, complement and supplement each other to together make out a self-sufficient world. Their limitations apart, each one of them are simultaneously also armed with such virtues, as would be necessary to nourish and sustain the collective existence.

Take the case of a trivial looking termite, which otherwise spoils wood, paper, and if left unattended even crops. But then, they dig hole deep inside the soil structure to facilitate entry of oxygen to activate creative potential of the earth mass. In the process, the termite eats earth mass. To digest it, its body releases necessary enzymes. Having consumed a small part for its own sustenance, it excretes the rest, and that being rich in enzyme, further add to the fertility of the soil. The termite has to however meet its end before the crop comes up, but not before serving the cause of larger existence. It, thus, comes out that there is nothing in existence, without a specific assignment in support of the collective existence.

Lord Śiva, therefore, in order to get the best out of one and all and facilitate smooth run of the worldly order, purposely ignores their individual limitations. But it doesn’t come about easy. He has to absorb all the negatives appearing as bye-product during the run of the world process, as would His poison fed blue neck imply. He does that in the larger interest of the existential order, but for which the very existence may become questionable.

Serving as provider, He nourishes the whole living order with all His resources in hand – the cosmic energy drawn through lunar crescent, water stream of river Ganges. Lord Śiva enjoys the confidence of all, as He selflessly serves them all without any sense of differentiation, with the sole noble objective to ensure a smooth run of the existential order. His selflessness is exemplified by being bare bodied, despite being the source and effective cause of creation.

To sum up, there is a system in place, which includes the primal source; the manifest plural world; and with lot of intervening dynamism playing in between, which drives us all individually and collectively. The existence as a such symbolised by Lord Shiva, deserves being termed as God.